I didn’t have high hopes for this episodes. At first glance it looked like it was going to be a boring trial episode with Dyson framed for murder and Bo working tirelessly to prove his innocence. We had one of those back in season one and I wasn't keen on reliving the experience.

The problem with episodes like this is that they are completely void of tension. The accused main character is always inevitably innocent, the poor victim of the villain of the week's scheme. And yet TV shows keep knocking ‘em out. The other night I watched an episode of The Musketeers that played out exactly the same way. There are too many Star Trek episodes like this to count. Just once I love to see a TV show completely subvert this overused plotline, either by having the main character actually be guilty or their friends being too late with the crucial evidence that exonerates them and they’re executed. Lost Girl isn't the type of show to really rock the narrative boat. While the show is pretty progressive in many areas, when it comes to storytelling it has proven to be fairly conventional. But every once in a while it can surprise me and that was the case with ‘La Fae Époque’. What I expected to be a tiresome solve the mystery episode ended up being a rather fun silly little farce.

Turns out the Una Mens didn’t arrest Dyson because he and Bo broke their precious “Light and Dark can’t fraternize” rule by making the beast with two backs. In fact, they seem to be willing to let that slide. Which is very odd. I thought the Una Mens were meant to be really big on enforcing the rules. If you break them it means torture and death for you. And yet they just let Bo go because they want to kill Dyson for something he may have done years ago. Why not just arrest both of them and kill two Fae with one sword? The obvious reason is because if Bo is locked up she can’t go on her magical mystery tour into Dyson’s memories to prove his innocence. It’s a simple case of bad guy acting out of character because the plot demands it. Lost Girl has a tendency to do this and normally I’d be up in arms about it, but I’m willing to let it slide on this occasion because this episode was such fun. So remember, kids, bad writing is acceptable as long as we’re having fun.

To save Dyson, Bo had to go into his memories to find some evidence to prove his innocence. This was Lost Girl does Inception, only far less complex and a lot kinkier. How kinkier? Well, at one point, Bo, as Dyson, has sex with Flora, who looked exactly like Lauren. So we see Lauren having sex with Dyson who is really Bo, who is loving every second of this (for purely investigative purposes). It's the closest we have come so far to having a Bo/Dyson/Lauren threesome, because it will happen for real at some point. Lost Girl is the only show I can think of where not only does the central love triangle have the potential to become a threesome, it more than likely will.

Because of the way this trip down Dyson’s memory lane worked, people and places from Bo’s own memories were inserted into Dyson’s past. From a production point of view, this meant they could get away with using the regular sets slightly redressed. It also meant that some of the regular cast could play dress up and play a game of who has the most outrageous accent. The winner, and the unquestionable star of the show, was always wonderful Miss Zoie Palmer. Palmer has got immense comic talents that the show hasn’t really taken full advantage of, so it was no surprise she would relish the chance to play someone completely different from Lauren. Someone who also sings. In French!

Fae of the Week

Flora was a Leshii, a Basque Woodland Fae. Leshii were male woodland spirits from Slavic mythology. The females were called Leshachikha (wives of the leshak).

Notes and Quotes

--This is the first episode this season to have Fae in the title.

--The Una Mens have so far turned out to be very limp antagonists. They were build up as this terrifying, all-powerful Fae inquisition that everyone feared, and yet so far they've done bugger all. What happened to their threat to kill Lauren and Kenzi?

--In Norse mythology, the Helskór (hel-shoes) were put on the dead so they could go to Valhalla. Here they turn people into Wolverine:

--Tamsin is still AWOL. Shame, the band back together ending could've used a drop of Valkyrie.

--I didn’t realise it at first, but Cassie was Myer’s niece, the same Oracle we met in season one.

--Trick knows how to wield a stick.

--Exactly why did Dyson need to be stripped and washed before he was executed?

--Considering how low budget this shows is those period streets sets were actually rather good.

--While Palmer won best/silliest accent, best costume went Ksenia Solo’s angel get up (oh la la indeed), while Paul Amos wins best(?) moustache, even if it was a one horse race:

--In case you were wondering, that really was Zoie Palmer singing. In French.

Hale: "Informant, for my sex worker case."
Kenzi: "What? You guys have never played 'Capture the Monk' before? Spice it up 39th division."

Lauren: "Dyson's family. I saved him before, I'd do it again."
--Things sure have changed between those two.

Bo: "Lauren!"
Lauren: "Wow, even in Dyson's subconscious you're thinking about me. Score one for the doctor. Unless that's Dyson talking."
--Zoie Palmer's face after delivering that line was just perfect:

Trick: "Follow me if you want sanctuary."

Bo: "No, Flora/Lauren isn't done singing yet. In French!"

Bo: "Shoes. Milkmaids. Boobs."
Lauren: "Oh, it is good to know that Dyson was an intellectual."

Three out of four songs sung in French.
---Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011. More Mark Greig.

3 comments:

So remember, kids, bad writing is acceptable as long as we're having fun.

So, so true. And such goofy fun this week! I was kind of surprised they didn't take the opportunity to work in another dance number. I half expected Flora to bust out some dance routine to go with her singing. Oh well. At least we got her talking about her love of her meadow. Something about Zoie's voice pitch and accent when Flora was getting excited about being able to return to her meadow was truly delightful.

I completely agree about the threesome, and was actually thinking the very same thing at the end of the episode, when they were all sitting at the bar together. I think that could totally work, too. Not as a one-off hookup, but as an unconventional (and potentially functional) relationship for those three. I like the dynamic they've developed. Bo loves both of them, and they both love her, and Dyson and Lauren have developed their own rapport at this point. How strange to suddenly not be rooting for either pairing, but for the three of them to make it work together.

Speaking of the low budget, it seems to me like that's why we can't have the whole gang together in episode-ending bar scenes. It feels like we've been trading out at least one full cast or supporting cast member in all the episodes this season. One week no Kenzi. One week no Dyson. These last two episodes we got Hale, so Tamsin was sent off on some journey of self discovery. I'm guessing that next week when Tam-Tam comes back to town, Hale (or Dyson or Lauren) will suddenly become MIA.

OMG, this was one of my favorite Lost Girl episodes ever, so I personally have to give it four out of four chansons. Zoie Palmer in particular was just wonderful as Flora/Wolverine.

And I don't know why I never thought of the obvious solution to the Bo/Dyson/Lauren love triangle. Maybe it's because they've never had the heroine/lead of a television show live happily ever after with her boyfriend *and* her girlfriend. A wolf/succubus/doctor menage a trois. Mais bien sur.